


she's got my heart tied in a knot

by ShippingEverything



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Gen, Multi, and sei realizes that rin isnt the only overprotective big bro figure in gous life, as in seigou becomes canon and rin is never a jerk to the iwatobi boys, gou can swim, like really well but she doesnt like to bc swimming is rins thing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-15
Updated: 2014-10-06
Packaged: 2017-12-23 13:47:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/927216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShippingEverything/pseuds/ShippingEverything
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Or: If liking Matsuoka Gou is an adventure, Seijuurou is willing to become Indiana Jones</p><p>A series of related one-shots about Sei's many, <em>many</em> obstacles as he attempts to successfully date Gou.</p><p>(previously "He Should've Known")</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Seijuurou should've thought this through more

**Author's Note:**

> This is because plot bunnies clung to a headcanon that said that Gou actually swam really well, she just chose not to. And then I wanted to write seigou and well, the rest was history. 
> 
> (New) Title from NeverShoutNever's "Trouble", which is my SeiGou song like omg, please listen to it. Just go listen to I Love You 5 and Can't Stand It (Same singer) and feel seigou with me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Or: Shit, you're actually good at swimming, this wasn't part of the plan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edited 10/6/14 because this is a year old and, while I didn't cringe while looking at it, it was still pretty bad. Also because I wanted to add in some Nitori because none of you are my mom.

_"Hey Gou-kun!" He had luckily caught her when she wasn't surrounded by her overprotective entourage._

_She rolled her eyes, not even bothering to correct her name, "Yes, Mikoshiba-san?"_

_"Race me! If I win then you have to go on a date with me, okay?"_

_She thought it over and he worried she'd say no. The plan was simple enough; he'd purposely lose to boost her ego and then, when she felt her best, he would ask her out and she'd say yes, no longer able to resist his charm and good looks._

_"Sure," SHe said finally, a small smile playing on her lips "But you better not go easy on me because I'm a girl."_

_"Oh no," he assured her even as he thought the opposite, "I'd never think of it."_

* * *

 

He honestly should've known better.

It didn't matter that Gou was two years his junior, he still should have at least anticipated that she -- the sister of a guy who broke a school record in his _tryout_ \-- would be a good swimmer. But no, he hadn't thought that far ahead when he challenged her to a race.

He should've been more concerned when she showed up about thirty minutes before Samezuka practice would start, their agreed race time,  in impressively professional-looking swim gear, but he was too busy thinking about how pretty she was to worry.

Mental alarms should've been going off when she began asking Nitori -- the assigned countdown person, who had been sworn to secrecy about the date part -- questions about what kind of race it was, how many laps they were doing, serious race stuff, that he didn't even have to dumb down for her. According the plan, she was supposed to only have a vague knowledge of how swimming races went, because while he knew she was Iwatobi's manager, he didn't think she actually _did anything_ besides schedule joint practices and yell at her team every now and then.

His final warning should've been when he noticed the same flash of determination that Matsuoka got before he faced off with the Nanase kid, but he ignored it and believed in his plan.

But, as he soon realized, Gou wasn't just cute. As soon as they were off the block, he could see her out of the corner of his eye, executing a front crawl that could probably rival that of half his team. He had started out slow because he was convinced that sticking to the plan was the way to go and by the time he began to correct his mistake, she had too much of a lead. His stomach twisted as he saw her finish her laps, even if he was only a second behind her, and not just because she looked absolutely adorable smirking like that.

"Took you long enough," her smirk grew as he rested against the pool wall, clearly out of breath. "I mean, I expected you to do something stupid like let me win, but I thought that you'd be able to keep up for the most part."

 _That was the plan_ , Seijuurou thought dejectedly, but he tried to play it off with a grin, even if the deep gasps between every other word sort of ruined the effect. "Who's saying I didn't let you win? I never could've beat me if I tried." 

Gou giggled, a sound more beautiful as anything Seijuurou had ever heard, "Whatever you say, Mikoshiba-san."

He pouted as he climbed out of the pool, thanking Nitori for the offered towel, and dried his dripping hair off. His ego was severely hurt, because even if the way Gou looked at his considerably nice muscles made him feel slightly better, the plan had gone completely wrong _and_ he'd made a fool of himself.

"So, for our date I was thinking we should get pizza. I know just the place, and I might be able to bribe a friend into getting us a discount." Gou's voice brought him out of his dreary thoughts.

"Wh-what?"

" _I said,_ " Gou sighed in exasperation, "we should get pizza for our date."

"Our date?" Seijuurou blinked owlishly, "But... I lost."

"Yeah, you did. The rules were that if you won, I'd go on a date with you. Since I won, you're going on a date with me and I get to pick all the details," Gou was resolute in her explanation, and he would've been fooled by her matter-of-fact demeanor if not for the light pink blush that decorated her cheeks.

Seijuurou turned deep red, resisting the urge to pinch himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming. "You still want to go out?"

"Obviously. Didn't I already say that?" She rolled her eyes and handed him a pen, "Write your email down, I'll message you the specifics sometime this week."

He could only dumbly nod as he scribbled the words on her outstretched hand, still not quite comprehending the sudden turn of events but quite okay with them anyway.

"Well, I should get going or I won't get back to Iwatobi in time and the boys will start to worry, but I'll text you." Gou smiled that cute smile of hers, and his heart fluttered painfully in his chest, " Goodbye Seijuurou-kun."

"Uh, yeah! See ya, Gou-kun!"

And the second she was out of sight, Seijuurou began the dorkiest victory dance known to man.

"Captain, please stop that," Nitori sighed beside him, "It's embarrassing."

Seijuurou just grinned, not caring if any of his teammates saw him, because in a contorted version of his plan, it had all worked out and he had a date with the cutest girl ever.


	2. Seijuurou came out to have a good time and he is honestly feeling so attacked right now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Or: I thought I'd only have to deal with one big brother, but there are five of you and I feel threatened

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edited 10/6/14 as well
> 
> This is obviously canon divergent, as in Rin never gets super angsty (he stays on okay terms w the iwatobi bunch when he goes to Australia, and then when he gets back they do have some of the s1 fighting, but they get over it way faster and then they all become... well, they become friend-rivals like how they all are post-s1 in canon)

Looking back, Seijuurou has no idea how he didn't see it coming.

When Gou had said that she might've been able to bribe someone into giving them a pizza discount, he'd been too excited about the prospect of a date to realize that any of her friends could've informed the Iwatobi boys.

If he hadn't been too busy trying to flirt with Gou from across the room (and he'd had little success since Matsuoka kept bothering him whenever he caught Gou's eye), he would've noticed that all the boys glared at him during their last joint practice. Had he been paying attention, he would've seen the Iwatobi boys plotting between laps and he would've been better prepared for the day of his date.

It had taken him hours to choose the perfect casual outfit and then, when he got to the Matsuoka house at 5:08 -- about twenty minutes early -- he stood in front of the door for ten minutes, too afraid to knock. 

"Matsuoka?" Seijuurou suddenly remembered that 1. Matsuoka actually, technically, lived there, and 2. he had forgotten to tell Matsuoka that he was asking out Gou. _But it shouldn't be too much of a problem, right?_

"You're early," The lack of any emotion on Matsuoka's face as he eyed Seijuurou down was unnerving, to say the least. Matsuoka turned away from the door to yell to someone inside, "He's here! I'll bring him in!"

Matsuoka grabbed his arm and pulled him into a room with all four of the Iwatobi boys standing around a table, glares of different degrees gracing their faces. It was then that Seijuurou began to wonder just how much he had thought out this whole "I want to date Gou" thing. Obviously he'd never  _not_ want to date her, but if he had thought it through... maybe he would've suggested a secret romance.

Their captain, Tachibana, spoke first, "Sit. So Mikoshiba, you want to take out our manager. You'll have to pass our inspection first."

Seijuurou gulped, "I-inspection?"

"Oh, no need to worry," Tachibana grinned, the smile much more intimidating than his normal one, "Nothing too hard, just a few simple questions. I think Haru wanted to go first?"

Nasane blinked back at Tachibana before turning to stare at Seijuurou, deep, blank eyes penetrating Seijuurou's soul. Seijuurou felt a cold sweat break out on the back of his neck. 

"Does the water like you?"

After a moment of silence, during which four hands flew to their respective foreheads, Seijuurou replied, "... Yes?"

 Nanase nodded, apparently pleased. "He can go out with Kou now."

Matsuoka groaned and pushed Nasane out of the room, "No, he can't! God, I don't know why I even thought you'd actually help, go make some mackerel or some shit."

"Anyway," Now the blond one started, ignoring the light bickering coming from what was apparently the kitchen, "How did you ask Gou-chan out?"

"Well, she actually asked me out," Seijuurou smiled sheepishly, more at ease now that Matsuoka was preoccupied elsewhere, "She beat me in a race because I underestimated her and the prize was planning a date."

A boy with blue-ish hair -- Ryugazaki, the one who almost drowned, he remembered -- fixed his glasses as he thought. "Hm, we'll have to alter our questioning a bit, but otherwise that changes nothing. Where do you two intend to go?"

Before he could answer, the blond one latched on to the taller boy's arm, exclaiming, "Rei-chan! You were supposed to ask him when he's gonna bring her back, that's the most important question!"

The blunet rolled his eyes and pushed his friend away, as if this happened all the time. "That was to be the next question, Nagisa-kun. Regardless, he can answer both now."

"Uh, well Gou-kun said that she wanted to go get some pizza," At this the boys began to grin in what Seijuurou should've recognized as a malicious fashion. He was too nervous to notice, so he continued, "I was also thinking that we could go on a walk in a nearby park, so we won't be back any later than nine."

"That's nice," Matsuoka's voice, or an overly cheerful approximation of it, spoke from behind Seijuurou and he wondered _When the ever-loving fuck he had gotten back in here, oh my god, my heart just stopped_. "But if you even think about touching my sister, and I will know, then you'll learn how sha-"

"Seijuurou-kun!" Gou chimed from the room's entrance, saving Seijuurou from more interrogation and threats, "I didn't hear you come in. I hope that my brother and his friends haven't bothered you too much." Gou continued in a voice sounding almost scarily similar to the one that Matsuoka had been using seconds ago, glaring at each of the boys in turn, all of whom slumped like children caught taking cookies from the cookie jar -- that is, except for Matsuoka.

"Of course not, _dear sister_ ," Matsuoka glared back, "we were just getting acquainted with him."

"I would've thought that you were well acquainted with _your_  captain, brother."

The two continued their deathstares, and when none of the others did anything to stop it, Seijuurou coughed lightly in hopes of defusing the situation, "You look really nice, Gou-kun."

Gou's grin flipped to a more sincere, much less scary, one, "Thank you! And now if you boys would excuse us, we have to get going." She grabbed Seijuurou's arm (God, did all the Matsuoka's have such a strong grip? He swore he was going to bruise) and tugged him up, stopping to spin around and tell the Iwatobi boys, "We'll talk about this at practice tomorrow," before pulling him out the door.

"I'm really sorry for that," Gou sighed as they began walking to the restaurant, "They're all so... _annoying_. And needlessly overprotective."

"It's sweet," Seijuurou said, because he would probably be the same with his little sister -- that is, if any punks dared to think that they were  worthy of trying to ask her out -- but he'd honestly probably appreciate the boys' effort more if it wasn't him that they were harassing. "They all really care about you. And I'd go through it a thousand times if I could go out with you."

Gou beamed up at him and in that moment that Seijuurou decided that he actually would _gladly_ be questioned and threatened a thousand times if he could be with her. 


End file.
